Tony Banegas, Vice President of Quality, Food Safety and Industry Relations at Bonduelle Americas, passed away on Dec. 15, 2024.

A respected 30-year veteran in food safety, Banegas joined Bonduelle Fresh Americas in 2009, then known as Ready Pac Foods, as National Director of Quality Assurance.

Throughout his career, Banegas was deeply involved in numerous Western Growers initiatives and was an active member of the Western Growers Science Food Safety Advisory Subcommittee and the Data Governance Team. He was also a strong advocate for GreenLink® and served on the California Leafy Green Marketing Agreement (LGMA) Advisory Board and Technical Committee.

Banegas was deeply involved with the Center for Produce Safety (CPS) Technical Committee, which reviews and selects research projects to be funded by CPS, and participated in a GFSI working group on Managing Risk in produce and leafy greens to help inform the benchmarking committee on how to make GFSI-recognized audits more relevant for produce. He was a member of the International Fresh Produce Association (IFPA) Food Safety Council. Banegas has also been a part of numerous working groups within IFPA drafting resource documents, white papers and industry guidance on a number of topics.

Western Growers attended the service and extended its heartfelt condolences to Banegas’ family, friends and colleagues.

To honor Banegas, memorial trees are being planted and can be coordinated here.